Hi KMA, how you doing? I don't know. Need a nap. Need a normal sleep schedule. Need to do something other than sleep. Need a new job. Probably need to go to the doctor, but that requires not sleeping and working all the time. That's all. I'm okay though. Getting through the day. Here is a new chapter. I'm not happy with it, but I need it set up the next girl and I just really wanted to update for you Mary Poppins people because I have been so focused on my other stories like a mean person. Y'all know Mary Poppins is my home fandom. I'll always come back to you…eventually.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the stuff I create, and to be honest, Disney owns most of the things I love anyway.

Phyllis

Bert smooths out his best shirt as he looks around the road, hoping to spy Mary before she sees him. She said she had a surprise for him in his last letter, and to be honest, Bert was just excited to see her since it had been six months since his confession of wanting to marry her.

"Bert?" Bert smiles and turns to see not Mary, but a girl who looks a little like her. She has lighter brown hair, her eyes are green, her skin is less pale.

"Yes?"

"I'm Phyllis, Mary's friend," Bert shakes her hand with confusion. Phyllis notices his expression and shyly smiles at the young man, "did Mary not tell you that it was me you were meeting?" Bert shakes his head, still not able to find the words. Phyllis lets out a breathy laugh that sets Bert on edge. "Oh, that Mary. She's a tricky one, setting us up on a date without your knowledge,"

"What?" Bert feels his blood freeze. Phyllis takes a seat across from him while taking his hand into hers, and Bert is still too stunned to pull away.

"Mary told me that she had found a friend that she thought I would be interested in, and she was right when she said you had the most beautiful blue eyes," Phyllis smiled, "and that you were quite handsome. Then again, Mary has never been one to lie to me," Bert feels his mouth fall. Mary had a surprise for him alright. Trying to set him up with her childhood friend. This was his answer. No. No, she didn't see a future with him. No, she didn't want to marry him. No, she never wanted to be with him again in any sense of the word. "Oh, no need to be silent. I know first dates are always uncomfortable. So, let's just sit here together, order some tea and cakes, and let the conversation fall where it may,"

"I'm sorry, Phyllis," Bert stands rather abruptly with his voice breaking a little, "but I'm not really interested…"

"Oh," Bert sees the look of surprise on her face, "but Mary…"

"Mary brought me here under false pretenses," Bert thumbs at his jacket pocket, "she told me I was meeting her here,"

"Why would she say that? She's having lunch with her cousins halfway across London at her Aunt's,"

"Phyllis, I wouldn't have come if I had known she setting all of this up," Bert runs a hand down his face and lets out a huff, placing his hands on his hips, "which would have put a bit of a damper on her plans,"

"I don't…"

"I don't either," Phyllis studies Bert's hurt expression, and the lightbulb finally clicks on for her. She smiles softly up from her chair at the man with sad eyes.

"You love Mary, don't you?"

"Uh…I…um…yes," Bert looks down at his feet, "yes I do. I told her that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her when she was home six months ago. She's met my family and friends and they all adore her, and frankly, Phyllis, I'm very much in love with her,"

"She's lucky," Bert looks back up at Phyllis, who takes his hand into hers, "she's just so terrified of letting someone in that she's letting it ruin her best chance at love. She's always been so prime and proper, ever since we were small children,"

"She's practically perfect," Phyllis raises her eyebrow, "no, she's perfect in every way," Phyllis squeezes his hand, tightly, as if to reassure him. "I don't want to lose her,"

"Don't let her apprehensiveness steer you away. She just doesn't want to end up like her parents, divorced and alone. Just keep loving her, Bert,"

"I'll try, Phyllis, but she's making it hard,"

"She isn't going to make it easy because she knows she's a catch, so she needs to make sure that the person she gives herself to is worth her time. One who is willing to wait for her, no matter where the winds take her because that's what tore her Mother and Father apart. He could only take so much,"

"What do you mean?"

"Mary's mother has the same gift as her, and it became too hard for Mister Poppins to wait. Do you want a piece of advice, Bert?" Bert nods, enthusiastically, and Phyllis takes his hand.

"Don't give up,"

"I'll try,"

"Don't lose hope, Bert, I think this was her last-ditch effort to help you find happiness because she knows that the life, she lives is hard." Phyllis does a small curtsy before walking away.

"I don't think I can be happy without her." Bert looks sadly at the cafe and pulls a necklace out of his jacket pocket. It had been his mother's, her most cherished possession. A gold locket with an ivory cameo in the middle. It was simple but his father had bought it when he had traveled to India on one of his many excursions. Bert smiled fondly at it before placing it back in his breast pocket. One day it would adorn Mary Poppins' neck. His declaration of love.

Mary's letters stopped once she learned of the failed date with Phyllis. He met Glynis three months after that, and as much as it pained him, it was time to move on. Mary was worth waiting for, but she wasn't even in the picture anymore to wait on.

I know. I know. Hate me. It's fine. It's not my fault that Mary is being a weirdo, but I'll take the blame. Sure, I wrote it, but I'm going to blame a fictional character because it's five-thirty in the morning, and I still haven't fallen asleep after a grueling and long shift. You guys will be fine by the next update.

Love,

KMA